Best small business switch for 100-300 user UC deployments

[kmacpherson]

Hello,

The SMART Designs state that both the ESW500 and 300-series switches should not be used for deployments of over 100 IP phones.

But now that both the UC560 can go up to 138 (128 IP phones) and the BE3000 can go up to 300 users is this design restriction still valid or is the Catalyst 2960 and above the only options?

The QPT is still showing both the 300- and ESW500  switches as options for all versions of the UC560, and the 300- and 2960  switches are shown as valid options in the LAN for the BE3000.

Thanks.

[Marcus Olson]

Cisco 2960's.. without question.  We've had issues with every other Cisco switch since the beginning..  aka the Catalyst 500's.  I've rolled out probably 10-15 of the ESW's.. we had fewer issues with the ESW's then we did with the Catalyst 500's but even so nothing has been as rock solid or easy to manage/implement then the 2960's.   I wouldn't even even install the SGE switches if they were given to me for free. Those by far were the worst out of all the 'Small Business" models.         

[iain.stewart]

Got to agree with above, the 2960's are great switches, providing all you are needing is layer 2 access. I have them deployed all over my network and never have an issue with then. They just seem to run and run.

[David Hornstein]

Hi All,

I would agree with the folks at smartdesign, but for a very differerent reason as suggested by kmacpherson..

But think about the Business Edition 3000 (BE3000) and how it's supported.  BE3000 is supported by the traditional Cisco TAC that also supports the catalyst 2960S etc....

The 300 series switch is supported by the wonder folk at the  Small Business Support Center (SBSC) . 

300 series of switches are generations ahead of the ESW switch in terms of switch silicon/features/GUI/supported CLI/IPv6 support  etc..it is a tremendous switch series..

From my perspective, even though there is now a lot of dialogue between TAC and SBSC these days, it sorta makes a lot of sense in my mind to position Catalyst switches  in conjunction with  BE3000 for your end users,  and 300 series small business switches as a lower cost alternative.

This will mean there will be pretty seamless TAC support for a BE3000,  catalyst, ISRG2 solution.

regards Dave

.   

[Marcus Olson]

Sorry, I don’t know the S/N. It was purchased from CDW on Feb 29th, 2012. Its now 30ft high in the ceiling..

I can get the MAC address via ARP though if that helps.

[David Hornstein]

Hi Marcus

Gotta admit, had to put my reading glasses on to read the s/n .  But on my SG300-10P ( order p/n SRW2008P-K9-NA)  i grabbed the s/n from the following highlighted section of the GUI.

regards Dave